Condemn the lathicharge and arrest of students & youth protesting in Kolkata against the massive scam in TET examination

West Bengal state committees of SFI & DYFI had jointly called for a Rajbhaban Abhijaan (rally to the Governor's Office) today demanding a corruption-free and transparent procedure in recruitment of the primary Teachers in West Bengal. The rally saw huge mobilization of students & youth from across the state despite heavy rains.

The TET results declared by the West Bengal Primary Education Board showed that only 1.07% of those who appeared in the examination have crossed the bar. Though 35,000 posts were reported to be officially vacant, only a small proportion of those who sat in the examination were declared passed. Primarily it was 55 lakhs of people reported to have applied for TET examination. Suddenly it was officially announced that 45 lakhs of applications have been received. Finally it was further announced that just 17, 72,000 thousand people appeared in TET examination where only 18,792 people were qualified in TET. It has come to light that the list was prepared by the ruling party leaders. The so-called ‘analysis’ was done in Trinamool Bhaban in Kolkata. The list contained the names of relatives, close aids of the TMC MLAs, leaders and hardcore TMC activists. This is nothing but a cruel joke on the aspirations and hopes of the educated unemployed youth of West Bengal. State units of SFI & DYFI have been consistently taking up this issue & mobilizing youth & students in thousands.

The march started from the college street in afternoon with slogans against irregular recruitments and huge scam involving TMC kingpins reverberating the streets of Kolkata. Rally took form of a road blockade at Dharamtala, as a delegation left to Governor’s office for the schedule appointment. At this juncture, police started indiscriminate lathicharge on the protesters injuring almost 30 activists, who had to be sent to Calcutta medical college. More than 130 activists have been arrested and sent to Lal bazar police lockups. Our comrades have rejected the state's offer for a peaceful bail and have chosen to spend the night at jail only in demand of an unconditional release tomorrow. Amongst those who have been arrested areSFI WB President Madhuja Senroy, SFI CEC members Com. Dhrubajyoti Saha and Soumyajit Rajak, DYFI WB President Sayandeep Mitra and DYFI CEC member Indrajit Ghosh.

We extend our revolutionary solidarity with the Comrades of SFI-DYFI struggling at Kolkata today. We would like to remind the autocratic Mamta government of West Bengal that no amount of repression can deter our spirit in carrying forward the movement in defence of the rights of employment of the students & youth of the state. The movement shall continue until victory!